My Photos

Something else I found on my trip to Hawaii…Birds!

I am an amateur bird-watcher, and when I see a new one, I check it off on my “Life List”, which is in the back of my 1960s edition of Roger Tory Peterson’s Field Guide to Western Birds (which is now a collector’s item). Fortunately, in this guide are two pages of pictures of Hawaiian birds, one of natives, and one of introduced species. All but a few of the new birds I saw is on those two pages. Here, first, are the new ones I saw.

This is a Barred Dove, which we found in the center courtyard of the Ala Moana Shopping Center, at the Starbucks there. We saw lots of these around all the islands we visited, and they formed small flocks. I thought they were prettier than the common pigeons we see in most cities.

This black bird is an Indian Mynah, and their screeches fill the air everywhere in Hawaii. They fill the niche of the Brewer’s Blackbirds we see on the mainland.

The one on the left is a juvenile bird.

These are cattle egrets, and they were everywhere around Pearl Harbor.

And this fine fellow is a Snowy Egret, and I actually saw him in Ensenada, Mexico.

Here’s an introduced species, seen at Pearl Harbor. He’s a Brazilian Cardinal, and was actually easy to identify by his red crest and black-and-white body.

This is a pair of Saffron Finches. Aren’t they pretty, with their yellow bodies and orange heads?

As we headed home from Hawaii through the North Pacific, birds were pretty much absent. However, as we approached Ensenada, Mexico, I was happy that I had my camera with me on my walk around the Promenade Deck in the early morning, because I was able to “capture” a sea bird that was new to me.

This is a Masked Booby, and I was thrilled that I could get this good of a picture.

However, there was one new bird whose picture I took that I could not identify. He was in the grass in the company of the saffron finches, and I have no idea what he was. Maybe one of my loyal followers can identify this Hawaiian bird.

I’m sure they’re some kind of finch, but nothing I found in my bird book looks like this, with the all-over gray body and red “mask”.

Bird-watching is a very rewarding pastime, and the fact that I got new ones for my life list in Hawaii will always bring a smile.